Vocabulary elements

A vocabulary element is defined by the nature of its corresponding business element. A vocabulary element can be a business term, a phrase, or a constant.

Whether a vocabulary element is a business term, a phrase, or a constant depends on the nature of its corresponding business element.

Business term

A business term is a key concept handled in business rules. It is the verbalization of a class or nested class in the BOM.

For example, customer is a business term.

Vocabulary

# org.samples.Customer
org.samples.Customer#concept.label = customer

Rule example

definitions
   set 'standard customer' to a customer from <relation> ;
   set 'loyal customers' to all customers in <collection>

      where each customer is loyalty program member ;
if
   there are 1000 customers

Attention:

Do not use the characters “ and > in term labels. They cause warnings and ambiguity problems when used in rules.

Expression

An expression is a phrase that associates two business elements. It can be the verbalization of:

A method that has a non void return type
The getter part of an attribute

For example, {name} of {this} is an expression phrase for the attribute Customer.name.

Vocabulary

org.samples.Customer.name#phrase.navigation = {name} of {this}

Rule example

if
   the name of customer contains "Smith"

You can also use predicate phrases in rules. A predicate phrase is a specific type of expression that verbalizes a non void method that returns a boolean or java.lang.Boolean. A predicate phrase has an implicit subject. For example, {this} is loyalty program member is a predicate phrase for the attribute Customer.loyaltyProgramMember.

Vocabulary

org.samples.Customer.loyaltyProgramMember#phrase.navigation = {this} is loyalty program member

Rule example

if
   customer is loyalty program member

Action

An action phrase applies an action to an object. It can be the verbalization of:

A method that has a void return type
The setter part, the adder part, the remover part, or the clearer part of an attribute

For example, in {this}, display the message : {0} is an action phrase for the method Session.displayMessage(String).

Vocabulary

org.samples.Session.displayMessage(java.lang.String)#phrase.action = in {this}, display the message : {0}

Rule example

then
   in 'current session' , display the message : "Hello!" ;

Constant

A constant is the verbalization of the public static final attribute of a class with the same type as this class.

For example, Minivan is a constant for the public static final attribute CarGroup.Minivan.

Vocabulary

org.samples.CarGroup.Compact#instance.label = Compact
org.samples.CarGroup.Minivan#instance.label = Minivan

Rule example

if
   'my car group' is one of { Compact , Minivan }